Dirham - Shams al-Din Ildegiz citing Seljuq Mas'ud

Shams al-Din Ildegiz founded his dynasty as an Atabeg — nominally a guardian and military tutor to Seljuq princes — and never formally claimed independent rule. Citing Mas'ud on this dirham was not deference but political necessity: Ildegiz built his power base in Azerbaijan while the Great Seljuq sultanate was fragmenting, and invoking the sultan's name provided legitimacy he could not yet claim outright. By the time Mas'ud died in 1152, Ildegiz was effectively autonomous, though the fiction of Seljuq suzerainty persisted on coinage long after it ceased to reflect any real authority.